


Caging The Beast

by heartsdesire456



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Abduction, Implied Torture, M/M, Sequel, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-24
Updated: 2012-09-24
Packaged: 2017-11-15 00:05:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/520929
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heartsdesire456/pseuds/heartsdesire456
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bruce has developed a serum to supress the Hulk and has been hiding his using it from Tony. When Tony catches him and freaks out, Bruce manages to calm him and reassure him that nothing can go wrong. But what happens when Bruce starts to grow more ill by the day? </p>
<p>Sequel to <a href="http://archiveofourown.org/works/509458">Learning Curve</a></p>
            </blockquote>





	Caging The Beast

**Author's Note:**

> I said on Tumblr that I'd have it done by Monday and IT IS MONDAY AND IT IS BEING POSTED! HUZZAH! I really hope this one lives up to the original which, if you would believe it, has ended up being my most popular story in a good two years!

Bruce woke up with a smile, turning his head towards the lips trailing along his jaw. “Mmmm, somebody is up early,” he mumbled tiredly and Tony chuckled.

“I just got home,” Tony said softly and Bruce opened his eyes, smiling as Tony shucked off his shirt and pants before sliding into the bed with Bruce. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered, kissing Bruce softly.

Bruce moaned tiredly against his lips then slung his arm around Tony. “Okay,” he said, tugging and wiggling with Tony until Tony was curled into his side, his head tucked into Bruce’s neck. “I’m happy you’re home, Tony.”

Tony smiled against Bruce’s neck, sliding his fingers through Bruce’s chest hair absently. “I’m glad to be home, Big Guy.” He kissed his chest. “Go back to sleep,” he whispered, smiling to himself when Bruce let out a soft sound before dozing off again.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
The second time Bruce woke up, Tony had managed to work his way until he was lying completely on top of Bruce. It always amused Bruce how much Tony seemed- for lack of better word- _cuddle_ in his sleep. In their everyday life, there were affectionate touches but they didn’t exactly cuddle. In fact, were they any other people, putting a hand on the other’s back when one walked up behind the other in the lab or such wouldn’t seem out of place for general ‘friend’ behavior. But Bruce could count on one hand the number of people who had voluntarily touched him (without intent to harm) in even the most innocent sense since his accident. Pepper would occasionally hug him, Steve would shake his hand, a few of the others might shake his hand if the occasion arose, but for the most part, everybody besides Steve and Pepper avoided even that. He didn’t blame them, he would be afraid if he was in their situation. Tony and Pepper trusted him, Steve didn’t have terribly much to be afraid of, but the others all knew how dangerous things would be if they accidentally set him off.

Tony, on the other hand, didn’t like to touch people. For a man so happy to get his hands dirty, he found other people frighteningly dirty. He had issues being directly handed things, he hated sitting too close to strangers, he hated when people didn’t give any warning before shaking his hand or touching his arm. Bruce jokingly called him a germ freak sometimes (with affection, naturally), because of how much Tony didn’t like other people touching him. Bruce, however, couldn’t help the part of him that felt damn near smug because he was the one person whose touches Tony sought out. Tony would stand so that their arms were touching, he would lay his hand on Bruce’s back, he would lead him around by his hand, and when nobody was around, he would sometimes randomly curl his arms around Bruce’s waist and lay his head on Bruce’s shoulder while listening to him explaining something.

Bruce could hardly believe that _he_ had won the trust and affection of someone like Tony Stark, but he had all but given up doubting his place in Tony’s life. Tony was honest, brutally so sometimes, and Bruce knew that Tony wouldn’t lie about how much Bruce mattered to him. He didn’t understand _why_ someone would want him in their life- he probably never would- but he was grateful.

Because even if they didn’t say it, Bruce loved Tony and he knew Tony loved him back. It was more than Bruce had ever hoped for. It was more than he deserved. But being trusted and loved was the best thing that had ever happened to him, and he would always be grateful for it.

Bruce kissed Tony’s hair and rubbed his hands down his back. “Tony, I need to get up,” he said softly. He smiled and poked his ribs in annoying little prods, whispering “Tony, move it” over and over until Tony groaned and rolled off of him, flopping onto his back dramatically.

“Mmnnnnnngh You suck, Banner,” he grumbled and Bruce sat up on one elbow, leaning over to kiss him sweetly. Tony smiled tiredly, peeking open an eye. “Okay, I lied, you’re good,” he said and Bruce laughed softly.

“Sorry, stuff I need to do today,” he said, sliding his hand down Tony’s chest before moving to climb out of bed. “You never did say why you decided to come to my place when you had just got home,” Bruce said as he walked over to his closet, disappearing inside to grab some clothes.

Tony yawned and groaned, rolling over onto his stomach to look into the closet. “What, I need to explain that I’ve been gone for two weeks and missed you?” he asked facetiously. 

Bruce chuckled, buttoning up his shirt as he came out. “No, I missed you too, but it couldn’t wait until the actual morning, not four am?” he asked.

Tony rolled his eyes dramatically, flopping over until he was half-hanging off the side of the bed, looking up at Bruce. “To be stupidly smart, you’re also just plain stupid sometimes,” he said and Bruce smirked.

“I’m teasing, Tony,” he said in a playful voice. He came over and sat down on the edge of the bed beside Tony, who turned and laid his head on Bruce’s thigh. Bruce stroked his fingers through Tony’s hair. “I’m glad you came, I really did miss you,” he said, leaning down to kiss Tony softly.

Tony moaned and yanked Bruce’s arm so that he fell half on top of Tony. “Know what else I’ve missed?” Tony mumbled against his lips, sliding a hand do the buttons of Bruce’s shirt.

Bruce chuckled. “Sorry Tony, I really have things to do,” he said, catching his hand to pull away.

Tony whined dramatically, reaching for Bruce when he stood up. “No fair, two _weeks_ , Bruce!”

Bruce let out a small laugh as he walked over to grab his shoes. “I know, and that’s like a million years in Tony Time, but I promise, I’ll try and be done before too late tonight. We can have dinner and catch up,” he said as he pulled his shoes on.

Tony smirked. “Or we can skip dinner and fuck,” he offered and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“Swear to God, for your age, you are the horniest man in the world, Tony,” Bruce teased, waving as he walked through the door.

Tony propped up on his arms and shouted, “YOU KNOW YOU WANT ME!” at Bruce’s retreating form, smiling when he heard Bruce let out a hearty chuckle in the hall.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was just giving himself his daily injection when the door opened. He cursed and rushed the last few milliliters, cringing at the extra sting- the solution always stung- before yanking the needle out. “So,” Tony started before he was even in the door. “What was that quip about my age this morning-“ Tony stopped and Bruce cursed, trying his best to position the bottles so that Tony didn’t see the labels. Tony raised an eyebrow as he walked over and looked at syringe on the table and Bruce’s rolled up sleeve. “Bruuuuce,” he drawled suspiciously. “What’re ya doin?” he asked in a dangerously calm voice.

Bruce sighed. “Nothing, Tony. Just… drawing some blood is all,” he said and Tony raised an eyebrow.

“With an injection syringe?” he asked and Bruce looked away. Tony caught his wrist and grabbed the alcohol wipe packet off the table, tearing it open before cleaning the area where a spot of blood showed on Bruce’s arm. “In your forearm?” he added and Bruce clenched his jaw.

“Tony-“

Tony reached past Bruce for the bottle he’d draw his liquid from. He looked at the label and his jaw clenched. “Bruce, what are you doing?” he asked firmly and Bruce shook his head. Tony put the vial down and curled his hand around Bruce’s jaw, turning him to face him. “Bruce?” he asked, a worried look in his eyes.

Bruce sighed. “Tony, I didn’t want you to get upset-“

“Then why are you taking this?! I didn’t even know you had tested it-“

“I tested it on myself. I didn’t make it for a week after we fought, but I just… I couldn’t help myself,” he said apologetically. He turned and caught Tony’s hand, holding it to his face. “I _need_ reassurance that I won’t hurt anybody, Tony. I know you trust me to keep a lid on it, and I know you don’t fear the Other Guy, but you have to understand that I need reassurance that he _will not_ come out to play. Ever-“

“Yeah, meaning he can’t protect you!” Tony argued, eyes full of anger. “Bruce, you promised me-“

“I promised I won’t hurt myself!” Bruce argued, eyes growing fierce. “I promised you that I wouldn’t hurt myself on purpose. I promised I wouldn’t try and take the easy way out, that I won’t leave you like that. And I don’t intend to break that promise, Tony!” He shook his head. “I’m not going to kill myself because for once, I am _happy_ , Tony.” He smiled a weak smile, eyes losing their anger. “Tony, I’ve never been this happy in my entire life. Being here, having you in my life… it’s the best I’ve ever felt. I have no reason to want to end it.” He took a breath. “And knowing for almost certain that I CAN’T transform and hurt people is the icing on the cake.”

Tony looked into his eyes, clearly searching for the truth. “How long have you been doing this?”

“A month. I started testing and then after a week when I did all the blood tests and other tests and they came out all safe, I started using it daily. Three weeks of that so far and I’m totally fine, I just don’t have to try to hold him in so hard,” Bruce said softly. He shook his head minutely, eyes never leaving Tony’s. “I promise. I’m okay.”

Tony sighed and pulled away. “Why did you go out of your way to hide it from me?” he asked, looking away.

Bruce walked over and sat on the table beside Tony. “Because I knew you would worry, okay?” He reached out and touched Tony’s arm lightly. “I felt bad for lying but you would be scared. I know you would. You worry about me because of how many people want to hurt me and you have some strange faith in the Hulk for looking after me-“

“It isn’t strange, Bruce!” Tony turned to him. “He _told me_ to my face that he keeps you safe. And I know, I believe everything you say to me, but God knows I’m going to be terrified now,” he said honestly. “All of the time, I’m going to be afraid of someone getting past me and hurting you. Now that you _cant_ protect yourself anymore, I’m going to be just-“ He cringed. “God, Bruce, do you know how it feels to be terrified of losing the person you care about more than anything else in the world?”

Bruce sighed. “Yes, Tony. I actually do. You know I do, and I know how much it hurts and I’m sorry for scaring you. Just please… know that I’m doing this to make my life easier, okay? Without this, I’m more likely to have an accident and end up having to run.” He felt horrible for what he was about to say, but he knew it was necessary. “Would you rather have me here and vulnerable with you, or invincible and on the run by myself?”

Tony shook his head. “You know my answer, Bruce.”

Bruce smiled sadly. “I’m sorry, Tony. I am-“

Tony turned abruptly and threw his arms around Bruce, hugging him close. “I know, Bruce. I know,” he whispered tightly. He curled his hand in the back of Bruce’s hair and fisted the other in his shirt. “Just… please _God_ be careful.” 

“I will be, Tony.” Bruce closed his eyes and hugged back. “I’m sorry for hiding it from you. I really hated lying.”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah, don’t do that, okay?” he asked, pulling back enough to look at Bruce. “My life is better with you in it, Banner.”

Bruce smiled and nodded. “You know I feel the same, Stark,” he said, closing his eyes when Tony leaned in to kiss him chastely. 

“If this ends badly, I’ll never forgive you, you know that, right?” he joked and Bruce chuckled.

“Of course not.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce smiled as Pepper greeted him with a hug. “Hey, Bruce,” she said with a bright smile. “How was your Tony-free vacation?” she asked, and Bruce laughed.

“It was-“

“Miserable!” Tony announced as he came in from the balcony. “Bruce was absolutely lost without me, Pepper, you should know better than to think he’d do much other than pine for me!”

Bruce rolled his eyes, turning to face Tony. “Believe it or not, Stark, but the world doesn’t revolve around you,” he said, then raised an eyebrow. “You were wearing different clothes an hour ago, what did you do,” he demanded. “If you blew something up already, Tony-“

Pepper snorted. “I didn’t think he could go a day without an explosion.”

Tony smirked. “No, no explosions, I just know you like how I look in these jeans,” he said, winking at Bruce, who sighed and shook his head, though it didn’t hide the way his cheeks went pink. 

Pepper chuckled. “I’m sure Steve and Clint will really hate you tonight,” she said, and Tony frowned.

Bruce walked over to sit on the couch. “They’re coming up for dinner, remember? Natasha might be, but I think she had somebody to kill today,” he said and Tony gave him a frightened look. 

“That really worries me. It isn’t me, right?” he asked Pepper, who snorted.

“How should I know?” she asked as she took a seat next to Bruce. “I run your corporation, not your super hero sorority house,” she said and Tony rolled his eyes dramatically.

“One girl doesn’t make us a sorority-“

“I was excluding Natasha from the bunch,” she countered and Bruce chuckled. Pepper smiled at him. “Hey, you’re included in there, Bruce.”

Tony smirked, going to settle next to Bruce. “Yeah, Banner, you’re the shy nerd who fell for the popular kid,” he said and Bruce cringed.

“That’s horrifying of a way to put it, Stark,” he said, then smirked. “Besides, I fell for you? Who gave me an apartment in a high rise and a brand new science lab just to get my attention,” he said and Tony winked.

“Well the usual ‘I’m Tony Stark and I’m really rich’ wasn’t working,” he said and Bruce shook his head, smiling.

“You aren’t that impressive.”

Tony wiggled his eyebrows. “Isn’t what you said last night,” he leered and Bruce snorted, full on laughing.

“You weren’t _here_ last night, Tony! If I did say that last night, you wouldn’t be so happy to know that, now would you,” he teased.

Tony narrowed his eyes. “The only person here last night was Rogers and I’m pretty damn sure he isn’t likely to fall into bed with a man in the two weeks I was gone.”

Bruce cringed. “Well I’m scarred for life,” he said and Tony blew him a kiss.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony smirked when he saw Bruce washing dishes. He sidled up behind him and propped his chin on Bruce’s shoulder, sliding his arms around his middle. “Why are you doing that? I have robots to do that.”

Bruce chuckled. “I have a dishwasher that never gets used. It’s just habit to wash dishes, sorry,” he said, tilting his head to the side so that Tony could nuzzle along his jaw. Tony turned and pressed his lips to his neck, kissing the skin there before slowly building up to nipping at the spot right below Bruce’s ear that drove him crazy. He smirked when Bruce hummed and slid his hand down to play with the hem of Bruce’s shirt. He snuck one hand up Bruce’s shirt to slide through the hair on his stomach before sliding down towards the hem of his pants. Tony nibbled lightly at the shell of Bruce’s ear as he slid his hand over the fabric of Bruce’s pants to press the palm of his hand against the front of Bruce’s pants, kneading teasingly over his crotch. He frowned, however, hand stilling and mouth pulling away slightly when he felt Bruce not even slightly aroused. 

“Everything okay?” Tony asked softly, and Bruce sighed, pulling Tony’s hand away. He turned in Tony’s arms and Tony frowned. “What?”

Bruce gave him an apologetic smile and leaned in to kiss him. “Tony, I’m sorry, I really am, but I’m _exhausted_ ,” he said honestly. He squeezed Tony’s hand, shrugging. “I just can’t.”

Tony raised an eyebrow but forced a smile. “No, hey, I get it. You’ve worked hard this week,” he said as earnestly as he could. He leaned in and kissed Bruce’s cheek. “I’m the one that kept you up all night in the lab last night anyways,” he said and Bruce smiled tiredly.

“Yeah, not everybody runs on caffeine like you, Tony,” he teased and Tony chuckled.

“Hey, if you’re really that tired, I’m serious, leave the dishes and head on to bed, okay, Big Guy?” he said, putting his hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “You look dead on your feet.”

Bruce sighed and chuckled. “I am. Lately I’ve been just exhausted. I guess staying up all night in the lab and the occasional night spent up with you otherwise occupied is catching up,” he said. He cringed. “God, I’m getting old I guess, that’s horrifying, huh?” he joked, flashing Tony a smile as he dried his hands and headed towards the door. 

Tony smiled, though something niggled in the back of his head, worrying him. “Goodnight, Bruce,” he called, watching him yawn widely and head down the hall before disappearing out of his sight. Tony glanced back at the dishes and sighed, biting his lip as he thought about exactly how often Bruce seemed to be exhausted. 

In spite of what he said about age, Bruce wasn’t exactly _old_. And he was healthy enough that he shouldn’t be so tired all of the time. Tony could only hope Bruce was okay.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was worried. He was more than worried. He had been taking a break and went to get something to drink only to come past his living room and find Bruce lying on the couch asleep. Tony had no idea why he wasn’t in his own room, but he walked over and knelt beside him anyhow. He checked him over, making sure he was really asleep, not hurt, and he seemed fine.

However, he had made considerable noise in the kitchen and it woke Bruce up just long enough for Tony to sit down beside him and talk to him, share some of his grapes, before Bruce dozed off against Tony’s shoulder. Tony was laid back against the arm of the couch with Bruce’s head on his stomach, stroking his curls with concern when the elevator announced someone’s arrival.

Tony glanced up just in time to see Steve and Clint coming out. “Stark!” Clint started, but Tony shook his head, waving a hand frantically. He shushed them and Clint cringed when he came close enough to see Bruce sleeping draped across Tony, unaffected by the noises at all. “Sorry,” he said softly.

Steve frowned when they walked closer. “Is he okay?” he asked and Tony could see they were both somewhat shocked to see Bruce asleep in the middle of the day.

Tony winced. “I don’t know,” he said softly, twisting one of Bruce’s curls around his finger absently. “He’s been exhausted for the past week or so. I’ve talked him into not staying up all night at the lab, but he’s _always_ tired.” He hummed. “JARVIS, perform as much of a bioscan on Dr. Banner as you can with my interference,” he instructed.

“Yes, sir.”

Clint looked around suspiciously. “That’s never going to not be freaky. Is there anywhere not bugged in this building?”

Tony chuckled. “Steve’s bathroom,” he said, shuddering dramatically. “Sorry fancy pants, I don’t want to see you naked ever. Really, just… no,” he said with a straight face.

Steve rolled his eyes and flopped down into a chair opposite them. “Thank God.”

Clint waved a hand, hopping up into one of the hairs in a crouch. “Wait, so you’re saying my bathroom is rigged?” he asked and Tony winked.

“You’ve got a sweet ass, Robin Hood,” he said and Clint narrowed his eyes at him. Tony snorted. “Don’t worry, your bathrooms are safe. I suppose Bruce wouldn’t mind, but why be a voyeur when I can just join him in the shower?” he said with smirk, thoroughly enjoying Steve’s awkward facial expressions. He stroked Bruce’s hair and frowned down at him. He bit his lip, pushing his ruffled curls out of his face, checking him for any sign of distress only to find him sleeping peacefully.

Clint tilted his head, eyeing them closely. “It’s weird. You don’t really expect Banner to be a ‘relationship’ kinda guy.” He shrugged. “Well, or you for that matter, Stark.”

Tony chuckled. “Hard to want to bang random blondes left and right anymore when you have someone this amazing sitting in a lab just waiting to do science with you all night instead,” he said absently, still looking down at Bruce the whole time. 

Clint hummed and glanced at Steve. “Think I’d take the random blondes, how about you, Rogers?” he asked and Steve gave him an unimpressed look.

Tony glanced up and chuckled. “Cap wouldn’t dare, Barton! He’s the world’s oldest virgin, he’d never be anything less than gentlemanly-“

“I was in the army, you know,” Steve said in annoyance. “Just because men weren’t as public with their conquests doesn’t mean you should really just assume-“

Tony rolled his eyes. “You call Natasha ‘ma’am’, He-Man, you’re clearly all… gentlemanly,” he said, making a face as if he’d said something dirty.

Clint let out an honest to God giggle, slapping a hand over his mouth when Bruce groaned and shifted. Tony looked down at him, tilting his head and gently brushing Bruce’s hair out of the way to see his eyes. When Bruce’s eyes fluttered open, Tony smiled a much gentler smile than the other men were used to. “Hey Sleeping Beauty,” he said softly and Bruce let out a tired chuckle.

“Beauty, sure, whatever you say,” he said, turning to press his face into Tony’s middle as he yawned widely. “Hmmmmmm what time is it?” he asked, lifting his head some, only to blush and sit up quickly when he caught Clint looking at him out of the side of his eyes. “Oh, crap, sorry guys,” he said, cheeks pink as he smiled apologetically.

Tony eyed him with a slightly worried look. “You’ve been asleep for at least an hour. Probably more, Bruce,” he said and Bruce looked startled. “Are you sure you’re okay?” he asked and Bruce managed a smile.

“I’m fine, Tony.” He looked at the other. “So what are you guys doing up here?” he asked and Clint and Steve shared looks.

“Well… Natasha has gone missing,” Steve said and Tony frowned.

“Missing? How long? Has someone called-“

Clint shook his head. “No, Stark. Not ‘oh no, someone got her’ missing, more like ‘oh no, she’s up to something’ missing. The kind of missing that usually ends in pain for whoever pissed her off,” he said, rubbing his jaw absently.

Tony froze and glanced around the room slowly. “That can’t be good,” he said and Steve nodded.

“Even if I’m made of stronger stuff than she is, I really don’t want to be alone. We figured strength in numbers. I tried to talk Miss Potts into taking off early and coming up but she figures Natasha likes her better than us,” he said, shrugging.

Clint smirked. “I still say they’re screwing-“

“Please, no more,” Bruce said, cringing. “If I didn’t know them, I wouldn’t mind that mental image, but… just no,” he said and Tony made an appraising sound, tilting his head. Bruce rolled his eyes. “Stark-“

“What?!” Tony defended, smirking. “I never did sleep with Natasha when I thought she was an assistant, in the end. Well, called her Natalie then,” he clarified, waving a hand. “Wonder if she would’ve done it to keep her cover before I busted that one-“

“You realize if she can hear you right now, she might _kill you_ ,” Bruce said sternly. “Really, I’m sitting beside you, I don’t want her to miss and kill me instead.”

Tony sighed dramatically. “Agent Romanov, if you’re listening in, I promise I won’t talk about the time I totally wanted to sleep with you anymore.” Bruce slid a few inches down the couch, giving him a warning look, clearly saying Tony was on his own. Tony smirked. “Besides,” he said even louder. “You’re just not my type anymore. Lately I’ve got this thing for really gorgeous and kind geniuses with sweet asses and sexy chest hair, and while you have a great ass, you’re too young, not smart enough, and definitely not a man… I think,” he said loud and clearly.

Clint snickered. “I’m not sure whether she’ll kill you for that or be impressed you aren’t a rampant slut anymore,” he joked and Steve rolled his eyes.

“You’re asking for her to assassinate you in your sleep, Stark,” he warned and Tony smirked.

“Totally wont, because she’ll get close enough and then see how cute and sweet Bruce looks asleep and even her icy heart will thaw out-“

“Really doubt that,” Bruce said, chuckling. “She’s so scary, JARVIS is afraid of her and he doesn’t have a body for her to injure,” he said and Steve snickered.

“She doesn’t usually mind me, I just don’t trust her not to turn on me just for the challenge, since I’m harder to kill,” he said, then glanced around. “Not that I’m suggesting anything!” he added loudly.

Bruce yawned. “Okay, you guys hide out from Agent Romanov, I’m still exhausted. I’m going to get some coffee or something so I can do some work before dinner.”

Tony frowned. “You don’t like coffee,” he said and Bruce shrugged.

“I need some caffeine. I’m so tired.” He started towards Tony’s kitchen and Tony glanced at Clint and Steve before hopping up to jog after him.

“Bruce,” he said, catching his wrist at the mouth of the hall, lowering his voice some as he slid his hand into Bruce’s, pulling him close. “Bruce, be honest, are you okay?” he asked, squeezing his hand lightly.

Bruce nodded, eyes showing how tired he was. “I’m okay, Tony. Really.” He stroked his fingers along Tony’s palm as he pulled his hand away. “Go back and hang out. I’ll be fine.”

Tony sighed but nodded. “I just worry, okay? Don’t blame me, I just care about you is all,” he said and Bruce gave him a soft, warm smile.

“I know you do, Tony,” he said, leaning in to press a kiss to Tony’s cheek in a rare sign of affection in the clear view of others. “I’ll call you if I feel worse, I promise,” he said before turning to walk away.

Tony watched him go before turning to head back to Clint and Steve, even though his mind was off in another place as he worried more and more about Bruce.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony knew Bruce wouldn’t be happy he had snuck out of bed in the middle of the night, leaving Bruce in his bed upstairs, to come sneak around Bruce’s lab, but he had to know. “JARVIS, are you sure his fatigue is low blood pressure?” he asked, finding the vials of Bruce’s serum.

“Yes, sir. His appetite has decreased steadily since he began using the serum to suppress adrenal production. It is a common side-effect of anti-anxiety medications such as what he has synthesized.”

Tony sighed and shook his head. “Oh Bruce,” he mumbled, looking at the seemingly innocuous clear fluid inside the vial in his hand. He looked at the other six vials and grabbed them all, carrying them over to the sink in the corner. “I’m going to get hell for this,” he said out loud as he unscrewed the cap and dumped the first vial down the sink. “Bruce is going to be so angry, so JARVIS, I expect you to lie your non-existent ass off if he asks to if I was in here.”

“Yes, sir. However, he knows no one else is able to get into his laboratory besides you-“

Tony cringed. “Yeah, I know, he’s going to find out, he’ll ask me point blank and I can’t lie to him,” he said sadly. “I just hope he comes to understand I’m only being a trespassing bastard because I want him safe.”

“The likelihood of Dr. Banner forgiving you are-“

“I don’t need any lip, thank you!” Tony said, rolling his eyes. “Bruce is right, I make you AIs way too smart. You’re getting sassy on me, JARVIS.”

“I do apologize, sir,” JARVIS responded and Tony couldn’t help but chuckle at his own design.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony wasn’t surprised when Bruce called him and asked him to come down to the lab. He knew Bruce knew it was him. When he got downstairs and walked into Bruce’s lab, he found Bruce sitting at his lab table with an unopened syringe and an empty vial. 

Bruce turned and narrowed his eyes. “So, all of my serum seems to have disappeared, Tony,” he said and Tony hummed.

“Wonder how that happened-“

“Cut the crap, Stark,” Bruce said, glaring. “What the hell did you do with my serum, Tony?” he demanded and Tony smiled apologetically, putting his hands in his pockets.

“Poured it out,” he said and Bruce’s eyes narrowed. “Look, I know it was a stupid decision, I should’ve just talked to you about it, but I just-“ He shrugged, widening his eyes some. “I overreacted. I’m sorry.”

Bruce just shook his head. “Tony what the hell were you even thinking?!” he asked, throwing up his hands. “What the hell even made you sneak around in my lab?!” he asked and Tony walked closer, giving Bruce the full benefit of his big brown eyes. He knew Bruce couldn’t resist the eyes.

“I had JARVIS run a bioscan on you,” he explained. “Then last night when he suggested it was the serum making your blood pressure so low, resulting in all the problems you’ve been having, I came down to run tests on some and I just-“ He cringed. “Well, when it was confirmed, I made a rash decision to get rid of it and I’m sorry!” he said in a rush. “I am sorry for taking it out of your control, but I was just scared that if I talked to you about it, you wouldn’t stop using it and then you would hide it and make me go out of my way to break your trust-“

“What the hell do you call going into my lab while I’m asleep and destroying something I manufactured?!” Bruce snapped. “Tony, I’m perfectly _fine_ -“

Tony rolled his eyes. “Your sustained hypotension will kill you, Bruce. You weren’t fine at all!” He sighed. “Look, I’m sorry for not just talking to you about it. I know if you were able to test and work out it was harming you more than helping you would stop-“

Bruce scoffed. “No, that’s the problem isn’t it?” He looked at Tony in disbelief. “You knew I wouldn’t stop, didn’t you?” He shook his head, a grim look on his face. “I can’t believe you. I swear to God, Tony, you cause more trouble than you’re worth.” Bruce just chuckled darkly. “Fine, whatever. I’ll just synthesize more-“

Tony’s head came up. “But-“

“It’s probably better you keep to your floor until I’ve got another dose,” Bruce said pointedly. “This stuff burns out fast. I can already feel it wearing off and it’ll take until at least tomorrow night to get a new batch-“

“You can’t be serious!” Tony said, eyes wide in disbelief. “Bruce, it’s _hurting you_ -“

Bruce wheeled around. “So fucking what, Tony?!” He took a deep calming breath. “Just admit it. You’ve never liked that I want to control the Other Guy. You- you have some fucking death wish and you want him to come out. You tried all those times to provoke me because deep down, you’re just as suicidal as I ever was, aren’t you?” he spat and Tony felt a sharp pain- like he’d been kicked in the ribs- at the words coming out of his lover’s mouth. 

“Bruce,” Tony said softly, looking away to hide how much his remark stung. “I don’t want you to be afraid of him is all.” He shook his head. “Like it or not, deny it or not, _wish you were dead or not_ ,” he added angrily, eyes turning back to Bruce sharply. “He is PART of you. You and he are the same! Why can’t you wrap your stupidly brilliant mind around the fact that _he only wants to help you-_ ”

“Because I fucking refuse to hurt anybody else, Tony!” Bruce snapped. “For once in your life get it into _your_ mind that I’m completely gone when he ‘comes out to play’! I’m not him. He isn’t me! He has nothing but blind rage in mind and I am _gone_ when I change-“

“So you’re telling me,” Tony cut him off, “That he is a mindless rage monster with no concept of you left, right?” He stalked closer, looking Bruce in the eye, expression steeled against Bruce’s anger. “Then why did he save me? Why did he trust me to take off the suit and talk to him face to face and not be a threat? Why would Hulk trust me if he didn’t recognize the part of you that is inside of him and understand that you love me?” he asked simply, shoulders squared, waiting for Bruce to _finally_ give in.

However, Bruce just scoffed, eyes empty of his usual warmth. “Whatever gave you that idea?” he asked in a cruel tone that absolutely sucked the air out of Tony’s lungs, leaving him feeling as if he was drowning.

Tony actually stepped back slightly, face slipping into a mask of hurt. “Oh,” he said weakly. He swallowed hard, jaw clenching as he fought against blinking, afraid that the stinging in his eyes might expose itself if he did. “Well then,” he said simply, glancing to the side before looking back at Bruce with nothing but pain filling his eyes. He opened his mouth, but couldn’t speak before snapping his jaw shut and swallowing around the lump in his throat. He saw a momentary flash of regret cross Bruce’s face before he turned and wordlessly headed towards the door.

“Tony,” he heard Bruce call after him, but whatever he wanted to say was cut off by the door swinging shut behind him. 

When Tony got into the elevator, only after the doors shut did his resolve break and his body grow weak as he stumbled backwards, gripping the rail tight in order to stay upright. He had never felt anything worse than the gripping, squeezing, wrenching anguish that left him feeling as though an unseen force was trying to rip his lungs out of his chest. Every breath was a pained struggle as his mind unhelpfully replayed the cold, hard look in Bruce’s eyes as he unceremoniously spoke words that had, effectively, crushed Tony’s heart. Tony let out a ragged sound, fighting back tears he had never known he could ever spill. He had never known how it felt. He had never known love before Bruce and because of that, he had never felt a broken heart. All of his life, nothing had ever hurt as much as the _only_ person he had ever cared for shattering the illusion that he had finally found something he had scarcely believed existed before the meek yet brilliant and beautiful scientist had walked into his life.

“JARVIS, get my suit ready. I just… need some time to not think,” he said, giving the command to go up to his floor. Tony assumed Bruce was just angry and _trying_ to hurt him, but still, the idea that Bruce didn’t actually love him the way he loved Bruce hurt more than he wanted to think about for the moment. 

“Anywhere specific in mind Mr. Stark?” JARVIS asked and Tony sighed, running a hand over his face and through his hair.

“No, I just need to get away for a little while. I need the distraction,” he said softly.

“Very well, sir,” JARVIS said and Tony couldn’t help but smile when JARVIS- AI as he was- didn’t even make a sarcastic remark, almost as though he was sparing Tony’s feelings.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony was doing loops ever higher over the river, looking down at the lights growing ever smaller, when JARVIS broke through his calming thoughts to announce a call. “Sir, it is-“

“I said no calls, JARVIS, go to voicemail-“

“No can do, Stark,” a voice that was definitely not Jarvis responded and Tony fell out of his concentric circles, veering off to one side in shock.

“Agent Romanov, where the hell have you been lately?” Tony asked. “And how did you override _JARVIS_?!” he demanded. “Have you been hiding in my office when I’m doing upgraded programs-“

“No time, Stark,” she interrupted. “Look, I’ve been hiding doing surveillance. I’ve been assigned to tracking General Ross’s attempts to find Banner, you know that’s why Clint and I are in your tower. But what you don’t know is that for the past two weeks I’ve been watching a smaller unit under Ross but not directly under his command doing some strange things and the long story short version is that they’re after Bruce.”

“He’s safe at the tower,” Tony said simply. “I knew they were looking so we updated security and besides, there’s my entire security team between them and _me_ , so they’d be cut down before they even got close to Bruce. Steve would do anything to help us too-“

“SHUT UP AND LISTEN!” she snapped. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you! Steve and Clint went out and the warehouse I’ve been watching is empty! I don’t know how they got past my surveillance, but they’re _gone_ and I called Clint and he and Steve went out. You need to get Bruce and get out of the tower while Fury gets back up to me and we get back-“

Tony felt his heart stop. “I’m not at the tower,” he said suddenly.

“WHAT?!” she cried and Tony heard her breath pick up, as if she was running. “Banner is alone and the extraction team is missing! GET BACK TO HIM!” she shouted. “I know he’s on the anti-hulk juice, they could _kill him_!”

Tony turned back immediately. “This team, where would they coming from? What direction?” he asked, increasing his speed as he headed towards the tower.

“From New Jersey. The more direct route would be the Lincoln so anywhere between the tunnel and the tower- Sir? On it,” she said to someone else and Tony felt his heart stop.

“What is it? Natasha, what is it?” he demanded, dodging a spire on his way back to the tower.

Natasha came back, once again sounding like she was running. “Two black semis were spotted twelve blocks from the Tower. Clint and Steve have been called back but Bruce isn’t answering-“

“He’s angry, he won’t answer anything right now,” Tony said, cursing to himself. “Damn it, Banner you stubborn ass!” he hissed, pulse pounding as he saw the tower in the distance. He glanced down, only to pull up sharply when he passed over two black semis caught in traffic. “I SEE THE TRUCKS!” he reported.

“Just get back to the tower, a team is already en route to deal with them-“ 

Whatever Natasha was going to say was cut off by the unmistakable whistle of an incoming missile. Tony tried to spin away but it was too late. The impact and blast wave threw him into a building. “I’m under fire!” he relayed back, eyes wide as warning lights began flashing all over his display as he circled around, trying to avoid anything more, only to glance down at the ground just in time to see the man holding a rocket launcher fire. Tony banked left, trying his best to miss it, only to be caught direct hit.

“TONY?! STARK?! STARK WHAT’S HAPPENING?” Natasha tried, but Tony could barely hear her voice as the impact rattled him, allowing him to hit a building and then drop out of the sky at such a rate that upon impact, it was lights out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce felt horrible. He couldn’t believe he’d said something so cruel to Tony. He sat, half-heartedly rewriting his notes to kill time, only to find himself unable to stop imagining the hurt flashing across Tony’s face before he turned and left. Bruce knew how bad what he said hurt Tony because he knew Tony. Tony was one of the most public people in the world, so Bruce knew that he was probably the only person Tony had ever _really_ loved. Sure, he loved Pepper in a way, probably thought he was in love with her when they were dating, but Bruce knew that he had somehow become the only person to ever really settle into Tony Stark’s heart.

And he had gone and- out of nothing but anger- hinted that he didn’t love Tony back. Bruce felt like he was the worst person on earth for hurting Tony that way just because he knew he could. 

Bruce was still lost in thought when JARVIS interrupted him. “I’m sorry sir, but Ms. Potts-“

The door to the lab flew open and Bruce whipped around, eyes wide as he saw Pepper running in. “Bruce!-“

“How did you do that? JARVIS doesn’t-“

Pepper rushed over, sliding some as she was barefoot on Bruce’s slick tiles. “Emergency override,” she said, taking his wrist. “Come on, we’re alone and Agent Romanov says the tower is about to be under attack!” she cried as she tugged Bruce away from his lab table.

Bruce’s eyes widened. “Oh no,” he breathed, leaping up to take Pepper’s hand so they could run. As soon as they got out of the lab, they both froze as they heard the distant sound of an explosion. “JARVIS!” he shouted as he and Pepper ran into the elevator. He stripped off his lab coat as soon as they were inside. “I need you to override and let us go all the way down into the ground floor-“

“Already done, sir,” JARVIS replied and Bruce looked up only to notice the elevator speeding down through the floors in a way he had never witnessed himself. 

Bruce looked over at Pepper, just now noticing she was wearing a tee-shirt, shorts, and no shoes. “You are really not dressed for this,” he said and she glared.

She flapped a hand at him. “Don’t worry about it, we’ve got bigger problems,” she said, taking a breath as they started slowing. Bruce looked at her and nodded. When the doors opened, they both ran out. The turned left and headed down a hallway to the lobby, only to come to the end of the hall just in time to hear the warning whistle of an incoming missile outside before there was an explosion outside. Bruce yanked Pepper back into the hall just in time to shield her from the front windows exploding inward, the shockwave knocking them both to the floor. 

“We have to get to the garage!” Pepper shouted only to stop when she saw the glass and debris all over the lobby.

Bruce wasted no time. “Sorry about this,” he said before scooping her up, ignoring her yelp as he ran across the lobby towards the entrance down to the garage, hoping the settling dust shielded them well enough from whoever was firing missiles at the building. When they got through the lobby, Bruce set Pepper down and she took his hand, sprinting alongside him as they wheeled around the corner, headed down to the garage. “What’s the plan?” he asked and she looked back to make sure nobody was coming.

“Tony leaves the keys in each of his cars, we get out of here, wait for instructions from SHIELD on where to-“

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” 

Pepper screamed and Bruce caught her as she stumbled and pulled her behind him, looking up, only to relax when he saw Steve and Clint. “Dr. Banner!” Clint lowered his bow and they ran to meet them in the aisle between cars. “We have to get you out of here-“

“What the hell is going on?!” Pepper demanded, eyes wild. “What-“

Steve looked up. “They decided to move on you, Bruce. That’s where Natasha’s been, keeping eyes on the team coming after you. They have their own surveillance I guess because they knew we were gone and saw Stark leave and decided to take a shot.” 

Clint ran over to a big, black Mercedes and opened the door, coming back with the keys. “Get in,” he said and Pepper and Bruce ran over, Steve behind them. 

“Where are we going?” Bruce asked as he and Pepper climbed in the back.

Steve turned back with a grim look. “Airfield, only place safe is the sky. Fury’s getting ready for war.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
In spite of Pepper not having an involvement with SHIELD, as soon as they landed on the helicarrier she started showing her true colors, demanding answers, ordering around people who weren’t hers to order around, and ignoring everybody who tried to stop her as she headed straight to the command deck.

“Ms. Potts, maybe you shouldn’t-“ Steve was silenced as she pushed the doors opened and strode purposefully ahead, narrowing her eyes when anybody moved to intercept her. Bruce couldn’t help but chuckle when Fury walked to meet Pepper, looking thoroughly confused by her presence.

“There wasn’t somewhere we could send her-“

Pepper cut him off. “She has a name,” she said, then pushed her hair out of her face. “Director Fury, I’m Pepper Potts. As CEO of Stark Industries, I want to know what the hell just happened to my building,” she demanded, voice even but expression leaving no room for argument.

Fury eyed her disbelievingly, but walked past her towards a conference table up the steps. He gestured for the others to follow him, away from the main bustle of flying the ship, so that they wouldn’t be disturbed. “Stark Tower was thought to be safe,” he started. The others all sat but Pepper remained standing, looking him in the eyes on his own level. He eyed her, clearly impressed but continued. “We thought we had enough watch on it and that Stark’s security would be good enough to make it safe. However, while we were watching them, they were watching the tower,” he said grimly. “Dr. Banner, I was informed you knew they were in New York after you, so you can understand what happened,” he said simply. “They realized that everybody between you and them was out for a while, the business floors were empty because it was night on the weekend, and they knew they would have little trouble at least scaring you out, if nothing else.”

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, I was worried about that, but Tony was pretty sure I would be safer there with his building’s security and Steve living with us in case worse came to worse. Especially since Barton and Romanov were staying there at the time as well.”

Fury nodded. “What I want to know, doctor, is how you and Ms. Potts got out?” he asked.

“I can explain,” Pepper said, pacing like someone at home in a board room, even if she was still wearing shorts and no shoes. “When Agent Romanov called to warn us, the tower’s security went into lockdown mode. I ran up to get Dr. Banner and used the security override to get us downstairs. We had to get out if the building was under attack, so we headed for the lobby. There was an explosion outside so we decided to go into the garage and get one of the cars, and that’s where we ran into Steve and Clint,” she said, gesturing to them. “They had orders so we left with them.”

Fury eyed Bruce. “So not only were you aware they were after you, but there was an explosion. Forgive me, Dr. Banner, but how is it your ‘friend’ didn’t join the party?” he asked and Bruce smiled tightly, looking down at his hands.

“Because I’ve developed a serum to stop the transformation. I’ve been on it a few weeks now. I was planning on staying in New York long term and knew I couldn’t risk another incident without endangering a lot of people,” he said, shrugging. “So far it’s working well. Some might disagree but I plan to stay on it.”

Fury started to speak, only to be interrupted. “Director Fury,” a woman came rushing up. She smiled apologetically. “Sir, Agent Romanov has been located and retrieved.”

Fury clicked his earpiece. “Agent Romanov, glad to have you back,” he said. “What exactly happened to-“ He stopped, jaw clenching at whatever Natasha was telling him. “You’re sure?” he asked, then sighed, shaking his head. “Thank you. Come see me as fast as possible,” he instructed. 

Pepper saw the look on his face and narrowed her eyes. “Something went wrong. Are we a danger here?” she demanded.

Fury looked up and shook his head. “No, but unfortunately, we didn’t do as well as I hoped,” he said. He leaned on the back of the chair in front of him and looked up. “Agent Romanov went offline for a while, so it’s just now reached me that unfortunately, Mr. Stark wasn’t as lucky as you four,” he said, looking up at the three seated.

Pepper’s face paled. “What exactly does that mean?” 

“It appears Mr. Stark’s Iron Man was shot down and Agent Romanov was unable to cause a distraction. The last traffic camera footage shows the team that was headed for Stark Tower loading Stark into a truck, seemingly unconscious and removed from his suit, which they also confiscated.”

Bruce’s blood ran cold. “No,” he whispered, pulse pounding in his ears. “What- how did they-“

“He was distracted.” They all looked up to see Natasha walking in. 

“Oh my God, are you alright?” Pepper asked, eyes wide as she saw the blood running down the side of Natasha’s face. She put a hand over her mouth, eyes wide.

Natasha chuckled. “This is nothing, Pepper,” she said, then turned to Fury. “I told Stark I lost them and gave him an idea of where they might be. He was in a hurry to get back to the tower and didn’t see the guy with the rocket launcher until he was under fire.”

Bruce stood up abruptly and walked over to the rail, grabbing handfuls of hair as he looked out, not seeing the people in the command center at all. “Oh my God.”

Fury raised an eyebrow at Bruce’s back, and the way he was pulling at his own hair with shaky hands. “Was Stark alive?” he asked Natasha who nodded.

“I think so. I think they wanted him alive. They don’t know the nature of his and Dr. Banner’s relationship but they know they must be friends for Banner to have been living there this long,” she explained.

“Where was Stark even going?” Steve asked, looking around. “He generally has a reason for going out in the suit. If it isn’t business, he likes to gloat about flying out for doughnuts or whatever just to show off to us all,” he pointed out and Clint nodded.

“It’s true. Ms. Potts?” he asked, and Pepper shrugged.

“I have nothing. I was doing some work in my office all night-“

Bruce chuckled weakly. “It’s my fault,” he said softly.

Pepper frowned and walked over. She put a hand on Bruce’s shoulder. “Bruce, what is?”

Bruce glanced over at her, swallowing hard before he whispered. “We got in an argument. A bad one. He did something that made me really angry and I was so pissed. I just-“ He cringed. “I yelled and he tried to explain himself and I just- I was so angry I said things that weren’t even true just because I knew it would hurt him and even before the ‘other guy’, I’ve always had a bad temper. I was seeing red completely so I said something that I knew would hurt him.” He chuckled weakly. “It did. He just… walked out. I didn’t know he was going out in the suit, but I’m not shocked. Hard to think about being stabbed in the heart when he’s concentrating on flying.”

“Is there something I should know?” Fury’s voice cut in, drawing Pepper and Bruce out of their whispered conversation. 

Pepper forced a smile. “Nothing important. Tony was just upset and went flying for stress relief. Nothing official you need to worry about.”

He shook his head. “No, Natasha said ‘nature of relationship’. Are you two working on something I should know about, Banner?” he asked suspiciously and Bruce let out a frustrated groan as he turned around.

“She means the fact we’re sleeping together, nothing of your or anybody else’s concern!” he snapped. “Can we get past the suspicion and start talking about how we’re going to get Tony back?” he asked, walking back to the table with Pepper. 

Fury looked at him as if he had just said he was a robot and held up a hand. “Wait _what_?!”

Pepper narrowed her eyes, putting a hand on Bruce’s arm. “I don’t see how the nature of their relationship has anything to do with the matter at hand.” She patted Bruce’s hand. “You aren’t the reason this happened to Tony,” she added softly, reassuring him. “Now,” he turned back to Fury, and then glanced around the table. “Let’s get back to what we’re doing next. I personally care more about rescuing Mr. Stark than talking about his sex life.”

Fury looked at her, and then chuckled. “I like you,” he said, then turned back. “Alright, first off, we’ve got to find out where they took Stark,” he began, tactfully doing as Pepper said.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce was staring into space when a paper ball hit him. He jolted from his thoughts and looked up to see Clint facing him, his chair spinning halfheartedly while Natasha and Pepper walked back and forth between screens, working together to track Tony down. “I asked what did you do?” he said and Bruce frowned.

“What?”

Clint shrugged. “You said ‘it’s my fault’ when you found out Stark was flying distracted when he got captured. Why would it be your fault? Pretty sure you deserve a medal for putting up with Stark.”

Bruce winced. “I was really angry, the kind of angry I haven’t gotten in forever because in the past, that much anger would’ve been long past ‘other guy’ status angry. Tony did something that explicitly broke my trust and I was so mad I just-“ He sighed, putting his face in his hands for a moment. “I said something to make him think I don’t... I wanted to hurt him because I was so angry and I knew exactly how to do it when the opportunity arose.” He shook his head, looking up. “I regretted it the second it was out of my mouth but Tony just- He looked so hurt. He looked at me like I’d broken him and then just left before I could even try to apologize. I figured he would calm down and then I’d talk to him but-“ Bruce smiled sadly. “Look how that worked out.”

Clint whistled. “What could you possibly do to hurt Tony Stark? I’m surprised that narcissistic bastard even has a heart.

Bruce leaned back in his chair and blinked a few times, swallowing hard around the lump in his throat. “Tony and I… we’re not the most affectionate pair, you know. The fact he held my hand in front of you guys was a testament to how concerned he was with how sick I’ve been,” he said with a small, fond smile. “But I’ve known for a long time that Tony really loves me. Probably the only person he’s every really loved like that,” he admitted. “And I made a comment that suggested that I don’t love him.”

Clint gave him a low whistle, eyes wide. “Wow, you really did fuck up,” he said and Bruce glared. “What?! You said it first.” 

Bruce shook his head. “He knows better than to think that,” he said weakly. “God, he has to know better. I’ve stayed in New York for so long for a reason and it sure as hell isn’t my apartment. I live with the fear of losing control and hurting a lot of people every day in Manhattan but I’m still there longer and longer and he has to know it’s for him.”

Clint shrugged. “Is that something somebody should know?” he asked and Bruce rolled his eyes.

“Clearly you’ve never been in love.”

Clint chuckled. “I’m an assassin, love isn’t really in my vocabulary. I kill people, not care.” He looked at him. “You’re really in love with _Stark_? It isn’t just having some fun?” he asked and Bruce shook his head.

“I wouldn’t be living in the middle of one of the biggest cities in the world, in the open, where anything can happen, if I wasn’t in love with Tony,” he said honestly.

Clint nodded a little nod. “You trust him with your life,” he said as if he had it figured out.

Bruce smiled a small, sad smile and shook his head subtly, lifting his eyes to meet Clint’s as he reached a realization. “No. I trust myself with his.”  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Bruce had dozed off, head resting on his crossed arms against the lab table, when the doors flying open startled him awake. He jumped up, looking around, eyes fixing on Fury stalking in.

“Ms. Potts, we’ve located Mr. Stark,” he said without preamble. Pepper stood up from where she and Natasha were working and walked over.

“What did they do with him? Do they have demands-“

Fury held up a hand. “We don’t know anything except they’ve got him held at a hidden base just to the north. There is an underground bunker or some sort, it would seem. Our intel suggests what we already suspected: the Hulk was their intended target.” He looked up at Bruce. “Dr. Banner, do you have any idea why they would have wanted Stark?”

Bruce looked down at his feet, wringing his hands. “Probably figured they weren’t going to get to me after they got stuck in traffic. Figured they could take Tony as bait. Or as a bargaining chip for SHIELD.” He flinched slightly. “I’d expect any time now they’ll contact you with some offer to trade me for him.”

Fury shook his head. “Don’t worry, that’s not even an option-“

Bruce looked up. “It is very much an option, in fact it should be your plan of action,” he said suddenly. He looked at him seriously, shoulders a little more squared as he walked closer. “A trade is the _only_ chance you have at rescuing Tony.”

Fury wasn’t the only one to look at Bruce like he was insane. Even Pepper looked like Bruce had lost it. “Tony Stark is a private citizen who wasn’t at all on SHIELD time when he got captured. You expect us to hand deliver one of the most dangerous potential weapons in existence to a somewhat-rogue band of special military personnel when there’s no way in hell they’ll actually hand Stark over if we do make the deal?” he asked, shooting him a flat look.

Bruce managed a small smile. “You said it yourself, Director. One of the most dangerous weapons in existence. No matter what they think, I know better than anybody that they’re not going to be able to handle the Hulk.”

“So what- are you suggesting I hand you over and then you let your friend out to play?!” Fury demanded and Bruce nodded.

“Exactly.”

Steve shuffled uneasily. “Bruce, I know you’re worried, but do you really think that’s a good idea?”

Bruce nodded firmly, looking surer of himself than ever. “It’s exactly the best idea,” he insisted. 

Fury gave him an exasperated look. “You said yourself they can’t handle the Hulk. You think you can? Last I heard, you were more afraid of losing control than anything else and now you want to willingly let him out?”

Bruce shook his head. “I can’t handle him. I’m barely even aware of anything when he takes over, but I know one thing about the Hulk,” he said, looking Fury straight in the eye. “As much as I’ve always pegged him as a mindless monster, as much as I’ve fought Tony’s evidence that he’s more intelligent than I was aware, I know one thing that I can’t dispute and that is that Hulk trusts Tony Stark. Hulk _likes_ Tony Stark. I don’t know how far or how much, I don’t know how much danger he would be in any other situation, but I know for _this_ situation, Hulk will without a doubt understand that the only person in the world to not be afraid of him is in danger and he will do whatever he can to protect him.” He shook his head with a small laugh. “I’ve never considered the fact that the Other Guy could comprehend that the reason people try to hurt me is because they’re afraid of him, but I do know that Tony was able to talk to Hulk face to face without the suit and not only did he live to tell the tale, he was able to hold a conversation with him about his role in protecting me from people who are afraid of him.” He shrugged. “I don’t like it. I don’t like him being unleashed more than anybody else. However, the highest probability of rescuing Tony is letting Hulk do it.”

Fury raised his eyebrow. “Probability, huh? You have no idea what our other ideas are-“

“You don’t have any!” Bruce snapped. “Damn it, I’m handing you the best possible solution WILLINGLY! This will likely be the only time I _ever_ volunteer to do something like this and I’m doing it now because I’m the best shot you have!” He narrowed his eyes. “And yes, ‘probability’!” He walked back over to the table he’d fallen asleep on and came back with a pad full of figures scribbled, numbers and equations all over. “You all seem to forget that I’m easily the SMARTEST PERSON ON THIS CARRIER!” he shouted, startling them all, even Fury. “I may not gloat like Tony does, but there’s a _reason_ I got in this mess to start with. There was a REASON that General Ross recruited me and the government put me through college to work for them. I am more intelligent than Tony Stark and probably anybody else in this _time zone_! I can easily figure the probability of a rescue attempt, I worked the probability of any scenario you would think up, I even worked the probabilities of outlandish and useless ideas because I had nothing better to do than sit here while everybody ignored the fact that I know more than any of you about what these people want, I know more than any of you about Tony Stark, and I know that the ONLY chance to save the life of the only person who has treated me like a person instead of a ‘thing’ since my accident is to let the Hulk do the job for you!”

Fury eyed him curiously. “So you’re just offering to do this for us?”

Bruce shook his head. “I’m not doing it for you, I’m doing this because I’m the only one who can.”

“You are aware of what could happen if this goes wrong,” Fury started. “If they capture you, if we can’t get you back out, the things they will do-“

Bruce flinched. “I know exactly and in more excruciating detail than you ever will what they’ll do if I fail,” he said darkly, looking off into space for a moment, his eyes showing the horror he was reliving.

Fury watched him closely. “You’re willing to risk that? You’re honestly willing to put yourself in the hands of people who can, will, and have experimented on you, tortured you, and did things to you that you still have _never_ explained to anybody?” he asked.

Bruce looked up with a tense jaw but set expression. “There is nothing anybody could ever do to me that would be worse than losing Tony,” he said firmly. He shook his head minutely. “If it goes wrong and they get me and Tony gets away, then I did what I had to. If it goes wrong and they get me and kill Tony, then I honestly won’t care what happens to me. Without him, I don’t want to be here.” Bruce’s voice cracked slightly on the last word, his eyes stinging at their corners as he saw Pepper put a hand over her mouth to his left. Through it all, however his eyes never left Fury. “Now,” he started softly. “You’re going to get together a plan. Convince them you’ll trade me for Tony. They wouldn’t actually give him up, but when I get in, I just have to give in to the Other Guy and let him take it from there. He does the things he does to protect me and if that’s the truth, then he’ll know that saving Tony is the most important thing for him to do. If it goes wrong, it goes wrong. But it’s the _only_ option that has any chance of success that you have.”

Fury let his head drop, shoulders heaving as he let out a heavy sigh. “I’ll see what can be done,” he begrudgingly replied before turning on his heel and walking out.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When Tony woke up, everything hurt. 

That was an understatement, everything felt like he had been ran over by a tank. His head was pounding, his throat was dry, left shoulder felt like it was on fire, and every bone and muscle in his body felt sore. As he inched his eyes open, ignoring the blinding pain of bright lights bouncing off of white walls, he felt his pace quicken when he tried to raise a hand to cover his eyes and found he couldn’t move. Tony blinked his vision clear and looked around, only to realize the room he was in had a mirror observation wall. He groaned as he wiggled his hands around, trying to work his bindings free, and a burning, stinging pain shot through his injured shoulder.

“Welcome back, Mr. Stark.” Tony looked up and felt anger rising above his pain as he saw, much to his surprise, General Ross himself walking into the room. As the door slid shut behind him, the man turned to him and chuckled. “You know, I do apologize for your… handling,” he said and Tony gave him a hard look.

“Well, it is in your best interest that I’m restrained and-“ he wiggled, cringing. “Injured.”

General Ross chuckled with a raised eyebrow as he paced over to the mirror, straightening his jacket. “Really now? Last I remember, you had come to me. A few years ago, remember?” He turned back. “Before SHIELD decided to cut you out of their… proceedings,” he said with a sneer.

Tony couldn’t fight the rage that filled him. “And if I had known then what a bastard you were I would’ve killed you right there, Ross.”

General Ross pivoted to face him. “Oh really now?” He hummed, crossing his arms behind his back as he resumed pacing. “You know I had heard you and your team were working with everybody’s favorite beast. There were sightings of him in New York about a year ago during that debacle with the demigod. You managed to somewhat tame the big green monstrosity. However did Fury do that?” he asked and Tony flinched.

“He isn’t a puppy, you know? Nobody ‘tamed’ him-“

“The Hulk is a beast, Mr. Stark. We both know this. It destroys lives and property.” He shrugged. “Makes a formidable weapon, however. I do hope to get my hands on it yet-“

Tony snarled. “You are not getting your hands on Bruce you son of a bitch!”

General Ross turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “Oh that’s right! Bruce Banner, that’s the scientist, isn’t it? Oh yes, I remember dear Bruce. Smart as a whip, that one,” he said, shaking his head as if reliving a fond memory. “A shame it was him that got turned into the Hulk, isn’t it? My daughter was really broken up when her boyfriend got turned into a mindless beast, you know? And the loss to the military bioweapons department!” He whistled. “Minds like that aren’t easy to come by, son,” he said, then smirked evilly at him. “But you know that, don’t you? Tony Stark, engineering genius in the flesh.”

Tony smirked suddenly as he was struck with realization. “Bruce can’t transform and you forgot his name, meaning you didn’t get him in the end, huh?” He smirked, leaning back some. “You wasted time picking me up and Bruce got away, didn’t he? Oh that’s just wonderful,” he said, chuckling suddenly. “Bruce will be in the care of SHIELD’s best operatives, totally safe now.” He winked. “You lose, Ross.”

General Ross glared, clearly angered by Tony’s jibes. “Yes, but we have you. The _famous_ billionaire. The Iron Man. What is a lowly scientist compared to a scientific celebrity?” he mocked. “They’ll offer a trade any time now.”

Tony steeled his expression. “I’m a private citizen and he’s a security threat in the wrong hands. SHIELD will never hand Bruce over-“

“Then you’ll die!” Ross roared, wheeling around to face Tony. “Stark, don’t you dare think I give a damn about your civic value?”

Tony swallowed but leveled his eyes with Ross’s angry gaze. “I wouldn’t expect any less.”

Ross gazed at him, eyes narrowed curiously. “You’d be willing to die for Banner?”

Tony looked ahead, not meeting Ross’s eyes. “Doctor Banner is a brilliant scientist. He’s more intelligent than me in most every way and is a greater asset to humanity. Brains like his belong in a lab as a scientist, not an experiment.” He swallowed and looked up at Ross. “Bruce Banner is not and never will be your experiment. He is more useful to society than I ever have been or probably ever will be.”

“Some narcissist you are.” Ross turned and resumed pacing. “I was under the impress you thought awfully highly of yourself.”

Tony chuckled hollowly. “Oh I love myself, that’s for sure, but no amount of narcissism can negate the truth and that truth is that Bruce is more important to SHIELD, to this country, to mankind, and to science than I ever will be.” He ducked his head and closed his eyes. “And he’s certainly more important to me.” He smiled weakly, looking down at the floor. “I’ve let down a lot of people in my life and a lot of people have let Bruce down in his, but I’m the only real friend Bruce has ever had and I _will not_ let him down like this,” he all but whispered, throat growing tight. His jaw clenched and he swallowed hard before looking up at Ross, who was eyeing him curiously. “So do whatever you want to me because I can die knowing I did my best to protect Bruce Banner.”

Ross sneered. “So be it.” Tony watched as he walked out and two big guys came in, giving him sinister looks. He cringed, already knowing this wasn’t going to be good at all.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
It had been so long since Bruce had been able to get injured without transforming into the Hulk, he had forgotten how it felt to bleed. As he was half-dragged, often dropped and kicked, throughout the underground bunker where Ross was keeping his team, Bruce could feel new abrasions on his knees and the pounding of his pulse in the gash to the back of his head with every movement. 

Nothing, however, was too bad when he considered that everything was going to plan. 

After contacting Ross and agreeing to a trade, Fury had briefed his team on Bruce’s plan. Bruce had been dropped into the woods near the base without any weapons, any contact, or any contingency to his plan. He had walked right up to the gate, as negotiated, and surrendered himself. He knew as well as anybody that they wouldn’t take him and release Tony, he planned on it, so when he was beaten down and escorted down into the underground bunker, he had a hard time hiding his triumph at everything going to plan so far.

What he didn’t expect, however, was what came next. Bruce was dragged down a hallway towards a steel door. The man leading the way opened it and looked at Bruce. “General Ross will be in to see you soon.” He pulled Bruce up by his throat. “We know all about your inability to transform yourself so don’t think you scare us at all.” He threw him bodily through the open door and sneered down at Bruce as he groaned. “Not so tough now, huh?”

When the door slammed and Bruce looked up, he found himself looking at the unconscious form of the man he loved, tied in a chair, beaten, bloody, and unnaturally still. “No,” he groaned as he worked his way up onto his hands and knees, wincing at the twinge in his side. That hadn’t been part of the plan. He knew the plan eventually was for the Hulk to find Tony and get out, but being locked in a tiny room with Tony wasn’t exactly ideal for transforming. He had no idea how lucid the Hulk had to be before he started smashing things. In the middle of transformation, he had no idea what he would do to Tony before realizing that it was Tony. Bruce groaned and let his head drop to the floor. “Damn it, Tony.”

“Nnnnnngg good to see you to, honey,” Tony offered in a weak, hoarse voice, causing Bruce to snap his head up.

He saw Tony’s eyes turned on him and he let out a sigh of relief. “Thank God,” he breathed, scrambling to his feet to rush to Tony. “Are you alright? God, of course you aren’t-“

Tony cut Bruce off as Bruce started looking him over. “Bruce, Bruce what the hell are you doing here?!” he demanded, eyes clearing some as Bruce tilted his head this way and that, looking at his pupillary reaction. “BRUCE!” he snapped and Bruce flinched back.

“I’m so sorry, Tony-“

Tony’s eyes widened. “SORRY!? You were fucking _safe_ , how did they get you?! I know they didn’t find wherever SHIELD took you-“

Bruce shook his head. “It’s all part of my plan,” he said, cringing. “Didn’t exactly plan this though-“

Tony glared. “PLAN?!” he hissed as Bruce went around behind him and started untying him. “Bruce you are the stupidest smart person EVER!” He groaned, letting his head fall back as his hands came undone and he shook out the pins and needles in his arms. “Bruce, you asshole, they were going to just kill me and you would be safe! Now they’ll hurt you-“

Bruce came back around and cut Tony off by kissing him gently, careful of Tony’s black eye and cut cheekbone. “Do you really think I could handle living without you, Stark?” he asked, gently brushing a thumb along his bruised jaw as he looked into his eyes. “If you’re going to die, I’m going with you, but if all goes to plan, neither of us is dying today, okay?” he asked, and Tony smiled sadly.

“How, Bruce? SHIELD won’t lose more men-“

Bruce shook his head. “I told you, this is my plan,” he said, pressing a quick kiss to Tony’s lips before he knelt down to untie Tony’s left leg, prompting Tony to move to the other one. Bruce backed up and Tony winced as he stood up. He opened his eyes and looked at Bruce, nodding.

“I’m okay,” he said, wincing when his knee throbbed with every movement. “Promise. Now, how the hell does your plan end up with us getting out alive, because untied or not, I may hold my own in a fistfight, but without my suit I’m not exactly stopping any bullets. And you aren’t able to let the Other Guy out to play.”

Bruce opened his hand, exposing a small plastic device. “Actually I can,” he said, then cringed, looking around. “I sure as hell didn’t expect to have to do it with you in a confined space with him though,” he said, looking worried.

Tony frowned. “Your plan was to _purposefully_ become the Hulk?” he asked incredulously.

Bruce nodded. “Yeah, you said it first, Tony. He likes you, he trusts you.” He shook his head. “If anybody else was in danger, it wouldn’t work, but my issues with my ‘other half’ or not, I do believe you when you say he likes you. If he’s the only one who can save you, I honestly don’t care,” he said softly.

Tony smiled and reached out to take Bruce’s hand in his. “You think he likes me that much?” he asked and Bruce smiled, sliding his fingers into Bruce’s.

“You say he does what he does to protect me, right?” Tony nodded. Bruce chuckled, stepping forward. “Then he’ll do anything he can to protect you because you are more important to me than my own life. If he is aware enough of me, he will know that you are unequivocally the most important thing to me. He wouldn’t want me to lose you.”

Tony smiled sadly. “You trust him that much all of a sudden?”

“I trust you,” Bruce corrected. “You say he is that smart, I’ll believe it because if I don’t, then we both die tonight, and I love you too much to let you die without doing my hardest to protect you, Tony.”

Tony felt his heart skip a beat as he looked into Bruce’s eyes, seeing nothing but truth. “I do believe, Dr. Banner, that that’s the first time you’ve ever told me that,” he said weakly and Bruce laughed wetly.

“Maybe if I had we wouldn’t be in this mess to start with,” he said and Tony shook his head.

“I’m way past wanting an apology, Bruce.” Tony reached up and slid his right hand into Bruce’s dirty, bloody curls, pulling him into a desperate kiss. Bruce kissed back with just as much ferocity and fear as Tony before letting out an almost-sob when Tony broke the kiss. “I love you so much, Bruce. Please tell me your little plastic thingy is going to get us both out of here.”

Bruce pulled back and nodded. “Thanks to you throwing out my serum, it’s burned off all day,” he said, putting the plastic thing in his pocket as he quickly unbuttoned his shirt, leaving Tony looking confused as to the relevance. “All I need is a quick flood of adrenaline to kick start the transformation.” He pulled his shirt off and moved to tie it around Tony’s shoulder, which had started bleeding again since he had started moving around. “I hid Pepper’s epinephrine auto-injector in my pants.” He chuckled as he tied the shirt around Tony’s arm. “Unsurprisingly, nobody thought to grope me for an Epi-Pen taped that high on my inner thigh when they checked me for weapons.”

Tony smirked and chuckled. “Groping you would’ve been my first choice of action,” he said and Bruce managed a snicker at Tony’s antics.

“Even in the face of death you’re a horny bastard,” he said fondly. He finished and took Tony’s uninjured hand in his. “Okay-“

The door swinging open cut Bruce off and he and Tony backed away a few steps, eyes wide as they watched General Ross and two other men walk in. “Well, well, well! Did you really think untying Mr. Stark was going to help you, Dr. Banner?” he asked, only to narrow his eyes as he saw Bruce and Tony’s fingers laced together between them. “What-“ He gave them a disgusted snarl. “Oh, so it’s like that, is it?”

Bruce backed slightly behind Tony so he could slip the epinephrine out of his pocket without being seen. “Tony,” he whispered, eyes leveled on the ones with the guns. He winced as he stabbed himself with the injector. “Get in the corner behind me as soon as I move forward,” he whispered, already feeling the shift coming on. “They’ll shoot but just get behind me and stay down-“

“Bruce-“

“NOW!” Bruce shouted, eyes flashing green as he shoved Tony behind him, only to let out a lower, more animalistic roar as his skin became saturated with green and his body expanded, popping and snapping unpleasantly as it did so.

“SHOOT HIM! SHOOT!” Ross cried, eyes wide with alarm as Bruce fell to the ground and grew into the Hulk right before his eyes.

Bruce’s last thought before giving up on consciousness was directed at the beast taking over his body. _Please don’t let them hurt Tony._  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
As gunfire ricocheted all around Tony, he huddled down, hands over his head, fighting a wave of panic as he heard bullets whistling around him. It wasn’t until he heard a roar that the bullets stopped. He carefully blinked, sitting up on his knees to feel all over his chest eyes wide for any sign of a bullet wound. He looked up, freezing when he saw Hulk crouched opposite him, against the glass of the observation mirror. “Hulk? Hey buddy,” he tried, standing slowly. Hulk startled, leaping up to his full height, head brushing the ceiling. “Whoa, it’s me!” Tony said quickly, hands up. “It’s Tony- uh, Metal Man! Remember Metal Man?” he tried, somewhat panicked at the blind fear in Hulk’s eyes.

Hulk started to snarl, only to stop. Tony let out a soft sigh when he saw Hulk’s eyes focusing. “Metal Man?” he asked in a loud, low grumble. 

Tony nodded, putting his hands down. “Yeah, it’s me.” He started towards him slowly. “Do you know where you are?” he asked and Hulk cowered some.

“Bad man,” he said, looking almost afraid.

Tony swallowed and nodded. “Yeah, you just scared the bad man, didn’t you?” He stopped in front of the giant green beast, looking up at his face. “Look, do you know why Bruce came here? Can you remember?”

Hulk nodded, though he looked unsure. “Protect Metal Man. Banner like Metal Man so Hulk like Metal Man,” he said and Tony smiled.

“Yeah, that’s it,” he said, only to start when he heard the shouts and running outside. “Look, we have to get out but I can’t help. Metal Man doesn’t have his metal, okay?”

Hulk growled at the sounds growing near, snarling at the door. “BAD MEN!” he shouted, then reached out and grabbed Tony by the arm, startling a yelp out of him as he snatched Tony to his side so that he was between Tony and the door.

“Yeah, okay, can you not hold so h-ARD!” Tony cried, eyes wide as Hulk curled his thick, green arm around Tony, tucking him into his side like a teddy bear. “Can’t- breathe-“ Hulk growled at Tony, effectively shushing him. “Okay, breathing is for losers, right-“

“IN THERE!” someone cried and Tony barely had time to cry out as a grenade flew in before Hulk had snatched Tony against his chest and spun around, blocking the blast with his broad, green body.

The almighty roar the Hulk let out was so loud that Tony had to cover his ears. “NO. HURT. METAL MAN!” Hulk bellowed and Tony winced.

“Okay look, buddy, we have to get out of here,” Tony said, looking up at the giant green face hovering above him. “We need to get out and get as far away as-“

“Metal Man hold on!” was the only warning got before Hulk wrapped Tony in his arms to guard him, crushing him in his colossal grasp as he blindly barreled through the wall, taking out concrete blocks as he tore down hallway after hallway, looking for a way out.   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony could barely feel his arms and legs from the grip Hulk had on him. They had been terrorizing the base for well on half an hour and they had yet to find a way to the surface. When they broke into a large underground hanger, Tony couldn’t help but let out a laugh. “We’re almost there, buddy!” he cheered, astounded when Hulk managed what almost resembled a smile.

“Metal Man safe-“

“FIRE!” came a crackled radio signal just as Tony saw the missile aimed at them.

“HULK-“ Tony was barely able to get out a shout before Hulk and spun around and crouched over Tony, crushing him against his chest, fully inclosing him in his arms just as the missile impacted. Tony was unable to breath, unable to cry out, but he could feel the force of the impact send them flying, his fragile human form fully protected by the Hulk’s massive bulk. Because of how safe he was, it shocked him greatly to suddenly be flung from those strong arms, tumbling and rolling along the concrete floor. He lifted his head and his eyes widened when he saw the blackened, charred, burning mass of vehicles, crates, and supplies strewn around what appeared to be a very large crater in the floor. He looked up, only to see Hulk lying eerily still against the wall. “No way,” he said, scrambling across the gap between them, keeping down. When he got there, he was shocked to see _blood_ and burned flesh along the Hulk’s left side. Whatever hit them had to have been designed specifically for him. “Oh buddy, what did they do?” he breathed, holding his hand in front of the Hulk’s nose to be sure he was still breathing.

“They’re down, I repeat, they’re down!” a voice echoed and Tony looked up, eyes frantically scanning around them. His eyes landed on a glass case set into the wall and his heart flipped as he saw what it housed.

His suit.

Hulk was grumbling, coming to as footsteps pounded towards them. Tony looked at the wild, scared look in the beast’s eyes as he woke up and he patted his chest. “Wake up, buddy. I’ve got an idea,” he said. He looked up and ducked down behind the crate next to them quickly.

“Metal Man hurt?” Hulk grumbled as he struggled to sit up.

Tony shook his head. “I’m okay but I need your help,” he said. He pointed across the hanger at his suit. “It looks intact. I just need you to distract them. This one is self-constructing, I just need a second to rewire it to one bracelet instead of two,” he said, showing the Hulk that one of his bracelets had been lost. “Just distract them for about ninety seconds and I’ll be able to guide us out, okay?”

Hulk nodded, heaving himself up. “Smart Metal Man,” he said, then gave an ear shattering howl before plowing through boxes and jeeps, running straight towards the troops approaching them.

Tony didn’t waste a second before sprinting across the open gap, dodging a few wayward bullets. He slid to a halt and yanked open the case. He immediately ripped the cover off of the housing of the main components computer. It only took two or three wires ripped out and attached in other places before his bracelet glowed red and beeped. The suit collapsed into a square on the floor and he quickly stepped into the boots, clicking his bracelet, hoping behind all hope that it did as it was meant to. He let out a sigh of relief as the suit began forming itself around him, quickly encasing his body before the faceplate finally slid into place with a click and the interior display blinked to life.

“Good evening, Mr. Stark.” JARVIS’s voice had never been more welcome that it was at that moment. “It would interest you to know that Stark Tower is secure-“

“Yeah, yeah we’ll get to that in a minute,” he said. He increased power and flew out, drawing a few startled cries as he circled around to land beside Hulk. “Hey Hulk!” he shouted and Hulk looked up.

“METAL MAN!” he cried, quickly shoving Tony out of the way of an incoming rocket. “METAL MAN GO!” he shouted and Tony watched thermal scans of the area pop up all across his screen.

“Not without you, buddy,” Tony said, then flew over Hulk’s head. “Follow me! Don’t stop for anything, got me?” he shouted before taking off down a tunnel to his left. He could hear HULK running behind him, the speed matching his own. As the tunnel twisted left and upwards, thermal readouts showed the opening five hundred yards ahead, but it also showed what amounted to a small army surrounding the mouth of the tunnel. “We’ve gotta go up, Hulk!” he cried just before they emerged from the tunnel. 

He had never been more grateful for Hulk’s trust as he was when he immediately leapt hundreds of feet into the air alongside Tony as he flew skywards. He let out a laugh of relief. “JARVIS! Get me in touch with SHIELD. Give them our coordinates and tell them to come get us,” he instructed. As he let out a loud whoop and flew a few spirals, he couldn’t help but realize he had really thought he’d never fly again not an hour beforehand.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
When a helicopter carrying a battered, bloody, unconscious Bruce Banner landed on deck, quickly followed by Tony Stark’s Iron Man, hardly anybody could believe their eyes. In spite of the missions probability, nobody really expected to ever see them again.

Tony followed the medics who lifted Bruce onto a litter inside, letting up his faceplate as soon as they got inside so that he could see with his own eyes what kind of shape Bruce was in. “How are his vitals? Is he holding steady?” Tony asked, keeping a steady stream of questions instead of even letting the medics answer them. “The burn is mostly healed after his transformation, so I’m sure he’ll be fine soon-“

“TONY!” Tony looked up to see Pepper running down the hall towards him.

“Hey Pep,” he said, letting out an ‘oof’ as she flew into him with such a force he even felt it inside the suit. “I’m okay, I’m okay-“

“YOU BETTER BE!” she shouted, promptly shoving him, not caring that it didn’t do much with the suit still on. “You could’ve been killed! Bruce could’ve been killed trying to save you! Oh God, how is he?” she asked, turning back to run and catch up with the medics, taking over pestering them like Tony had been. Tony chuckled and shook his head, rolling his shoulders with a wince before deciding to go get rid of the suit before letting Pepper make him see the medics himself.  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Tony hissed as he pulled a clean shirt on, pulling the stitches in his shoulder. He walked from the room where he’d been patched up back into the sick bay where Bruce had been left in a cot to sleep until he woke up on his own. He was fine, having healed back up rather quickly thanks to the Hulk. Tony pulled up a chair at Bruce’s bedside and sat down, carefully reaching out to take the scientist’s limp hand into his. He lifted it to his lips and kissed his palm before curling their fingers together. He looked up at his face and smiled sadly at the rings under Bruce’s eyes. He reached out and brushed Bruce’s curls out of his face, gazing fondly at his face. “Ah Bruce,” he whispered, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly. “You are the stupidest smart person ever, Dr. Banner,” he mumbled, using his favorite insult. 

“So I’ve heard.” Tony’s eyes snapped open and he smiled when he saw Bruce peeking at him between tired, heavy eyelids. “Mmmm, so it worked then?” Bruce asked and Tony nodded. “Good.”

Tony scoffed. “Good? More like ‘holy shit, you’re a genius and an idiot’ or ‘why the HELL did you do something so dangerous?’, Bruce,” he said sternly.

Bruce yawned and shifted some, looking more awake. “Told you already, Stark. You make me happy,” he said softly. He smiled weakly up at him. “If I died, whatever. I didn’t want to be here if you weren’t here with me.”

Tony just shook his head, biting his lip. “You have a terrible sense of self-worth, my friend,” he said, then smirked as he pulled Bruce’s hand to his lips. “Although your taste in men? Excellent,” he joked and Bruce managed a laugh.

“Your sense of self-worth can cover for both of us, I think,” he said, giving Tony a warm, gentle smile. “You okay?” he asked and Tony nodded.

“Just some stitches in my shoulder. Couple of scrapes and bruises,” he answered, reaching out to push the sheets off of Bruce’s side to see where he’d been burned. “You’re all healed up it seems,” he said with a happy lilt to his voice. “Man, I don’t know what they got the Hulk with but he was all burned up on one side. Glad to see it didn’t translate to you,” he said and Bruce groaned.

“I’m shocked that stunt actually worked. He really saved you?” he asked, looking up at him.

Tony nodded, reaching out to push Bruce’s hair back again. “Nearly squished me but he protected me with his life.” He smiled at Bruce. “Did it for you, I think.”

Bruce hummed, leaning into Tony’s hand. “That’s what I was hoping for.” He closed his eyes tiredly. “I’m so tired.”

Tony nodded. “I’ll let you sleep-“

“Stay,” Bruce said, squeezing the hand he hadn’t let go of since he woke up. “Just… I need to know you’re okay, Tony. I can’t be scared like that again.”

Tony smiled a warm, loving smile and leaned in to kiss Bruce’s dry lips gently. “I won’t leave until you want me to.”

Bruce chuckled. “So never then?” he asked and Tony nodded, plucking at a curl absently.

“Never sounds good to me,” he whispered and Bruce nodded.

“Alright then.”

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted [here](http://heartsdesire456.livejournal.com/964877.html)


End file.
